Mountains, covering approximately 25% of the Earth’s land surface, are home to about 850 million people and provide indispensable goods and services for all humankind. However, many mountain regions suffer from dire poverty, widespread land degradation, inequitable land rights, and are already enduring severe negative impacts from climate change.
In order to promote Sustainable Mountain Development (SMD) in view of the considerable global challenges ahead, several engaged partners have jointly launched the World Mountain Forum (WMF). It provides an outstanding platform for SMD and brings together SMD stakeholders from around the globe, providing them a platform for exchange about their experience, promotion of collaborative action and for fostering political dialogue among different levels of government and society. The overall goal therefore, is to create dialogue with articulated concrete actions and concerted efforts of how to address the plight of these fragile ecosystems, through SDM.
The WMF 2014 will showcase and discuss available local, regional and global experience in sustainable mountain development. It will identify opportunities and challenges for the future of global SMD is likely to face. The WMF 2014 is expected to produce insights that will feed into other relevant global initiatives and events such as the UN Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP) and the CSD biennial cycle 20/21 in which mountains are one of five priority themes. The WMF 2014 will bring the opportunity for mountain countries to discuss on how better ensure mountains are adequately incorporated into the future climate deal that the COP20 (Lima, December 2014) will advance.
Key Topics
Family Farming, Water and Food Security; Climate Change; Mountain cities; and Mountain Communities. As each topic is very broad, the WMF 2014 is proposing some priority issues that will be covered by presentations from participants. Based on the material received, the organizing committee will arrange the sessions of the WMF. The presentations may have the form of paper, poster or audiovisual.
